Digital Time is my ongoing research project into how time and the temporal are critical underpinnings for the presentation and experience of popular social media platforms. Arguing that understanding and transforming the temporal is key to the operation of such platforms, the project showcases how plaforms variously privilege the new and novel, the old and forgotten as catalysts for participation, while disrupting temporality with algorithmic ordering.

Can you help?

Part of this research involves the temporal prompts and interventions of digital media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. I’ve been maintaining an archive of the prompts appearing on my own profiles (see below), but obviously my experience is not the same as anyone else’s. To further develop this archive, I am asking for additional contributions: if you are prompted with temporally-relevant pushes, notifications, or messages, do you mind saving the prompt (as a screenshot or save image/video, where appropriate or available), and sending it to me — t.j.highfield AT uva.nl or tim.highfield AT gmail.com — along with a short note about the context/date and time of prompt? These can be for any platform, app, or device. All contributions are greatly appreciated and will be acknowledged in any relevant research outputs. You can find a selection of archival material already collected at digitaltimeresearch.tumblr.com